St. Albert French Immersion students have teamed up with an Edmonton artist to create a new mural based on the Indigenous lunar calendar.
École Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville students saw the Indigenous 13 Moons Mural Project go up on the walls of their school cafeteria this week. The mural, which consists of 13 paintings on 13 half-meter-wide birchwood circles, was the work of seven students, ESSMY teacher Laurie Petersen, and Edmonton Indigenous artist Penelope Moon Walker (whose work is currently on display at the St. Albert Public Library).
Petersen, who spearheaded the project, said this initiative was meant to teach students more about Indigenous culture and help Indigenous students connect with their heritage. She decided to base it on the Nehiyaw (Plains Cree) lunar calendar, as students had learned about that concept previously, and called in Moon Walker (whom she knew through her family) as an art teacher/role model.
Unlike the 12-month Gregorian calendar, the Nehiyaw tracked time based on the 13 cycles of the moon, said Moon Walker.
“Each moon tells us what we’re going to harvest,” she said, and guides what activities a community would do at any time of the year.
The 13 moons are linked to observable changes in the local environment, Petersen said. The names of each moon vary from community to community as a result.
Moon Walker said she showed the students how to create a painting using various First Nations art styles. She also spoke on her history as a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, and how it was never too late in life to reconnect with your roots.
Frogs and exploding trees
Grade 9 artist Ronan Brady said he and the other artists started work on this project in late April, painting their chosen moons after school and over lunch.
“It’s kind of cool,” Brady said of the concept of the 13 moons.
“Instead of having to remember each month, you can just remember images associated with stuff happening around you.”
The moons depicted by the students were (in order) the great, eagle, goose, frog, budding, hatching, buck, sturgeon, rutting, freezing, frosting, wolf, and frost exploding moons.
Grade 7 artist Eva Morrison painted the budding and frost exploding moons. The budding moon corresponds to the emergence of the first tree buds in spring, while the frost exploding moon arrives when the sap freezes in trees during deep winter, causing wood to crack.
“It doesn’t truly explode,” Morrison noted, but she decided to paint a tree bursting into shrapnel anyway.
Brady painted the buck moon, which happens when the antlers on deer are mature. He said he chose this month due to his interest in hunting, and illustrated it with a set of white-tailed deer, which are commonly hunted in Alberta.
The other moons are associated with deep winter (great), the return of eagles and geese from the south, the awakening of frogs, the hatching of eggs, sturgeon laying eggs, rutting season, ice formation (freezing), long cold nights when everyone tells stories (frosting), and freezing winds that cause wolves to walk in line (wolf).
Enlightening
Brady said he learned a lot about First Nations culture through this project, and that it was fun learning different art techniques from Moon Walker.
Morrison said this project helped her learn more about her heritage.
“My ancestors are Métis, but as somebody who always lived in St. Albert I’ve always felt a little disconnected from my culture,” she said.
“I can see myself living by the moons as my ancestors did.”
Moon Walker said she hoped this project will encourage students to be proud of their heritage.
“We are one of a community, and we can learn from each other.”
Questions on the mural should go to ESSMY staff at 780-459-5702.
